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The selection process for the Hockey Hall of Fame is often a very political one. Deserving people are sometimes left out for many years while more "connected" candidates get in first.

The processes have been reformed a bit of the years but the behind-the-scenes politicking really has not changed all that much. There was a lot of understandable furor when Gil Stein, who briefly served as NHL president and was its longtime vice president and chief legal counsel, orchestrated and manipulated his own induction in the Hall as a Builder.

Under duress, Stein declined his induction. Nevertheless, to this very day, there is still a lot of lobbying, deal-making and bloc voting (or petty "block voting", as the case may be for the prevention of certain candidates getting inducted) that goes on beneath the deliberately shrouded activities of the selection committee.

It was a disgrace that the overwhelmingly qualified Fred Shero was not inducted into the Hall as a Builder until 23 years after his death. It is equally wrong that my grandfather -- the first American coach of a Stanley Cup champion, a highly regarded NHL referee and a key builder of the U.S. national hockey team program in the late 1950s -- is still not in the "big" Hall in Toronto. He was not inducted into the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame until 1982 -- 18 years after his death -- but at least finally got that honor.

Likewise, it was a shame that Pat Burns, who passed away in Nov. 2010, did not live to see his induction into the Hall of Fame class of 2014. He deserved that honor while he was still alive, but I am happy for his wife, Lynn, and his family.

My own relationship with Burns was a complicated one. We always respected one another, but we had our share of heated clashes when he was coaching and I was refereeing. I wrote about some of those stories in my blog of last November 11.

In the years after I retired from officiating, Burns and I grew much closer on a personal level and the mutual respect we had grew into friendship. We came from somewhat similar backgrounds, which included stints in law enforcement as well as in hockey. Moreover, we were fellow cancer survivors and we were both fighters by nature.

I have always believed in my heart and soul that there should be an addendum to the Ten Commandments. The Eleventh Commandment is that it is a sin of one is position to help one's fellow man and willfully chooses not to do the right thing. In reality, things I did to be supportive of Pat during his cancer battles -- which ended up getting media publicity but were never intended to do so -- were things I would do for anyone I am in position to help.

I know what I went through and what my family went through and how eternally grateful we are for the acts of kindness and compassion that were shown to me. The least I can do is try to pay it forward to others in need.

Every cancer case is different. I was about 8 to 10 years younger than Burns when he had his first bout with cancer and probably just in a bit better shape when I underwent treatment for stage 3 colon cancer. Pat had to undergo radiation in addition to chemotherapy so he had to deal with an especially tough regimen.

While Pat was in Saint Barnabas Medical Center in Livingston, NJ, I kept in regular contact with him. I did so mostly by email and the occasional phone call rather than by in-person visits. The reason was that I knew how draining his treatments were, and that he did not feel up to receiving visitors.

Chemotherapy is like carpet bombing. The doctors go in and bomb away at everything, hopefully removing all of the cancer cells but it has an array of side effects. For one thing, it really drains you. You feel like a wrung-out sponge on a daily basis. Even if you do manage to get some sleep, you never seem to be able to find a comfortable position so it's not a deep sleep. You never feel rested when you wake up. It's that type of thing that, in your weakest moments, can take away your spirit to keep fighting.

Pat was one tough son of a gun. But he also had a sense of humor about him. Over the years, we found out that the reason why we clashed so much on the ice was that our personalities were too much alike. If we had been police partners together, we probably would have argued all the time.

Burns survived colon cancer in 2004 and liver cancer in 2005. The three-time Jack Adams Award winner as NHL Coach of the Year had to retire after the second diagnosis.

In 2009, Pat learned that his colon cancer had returned and metastasized to his lungs,and was inoperable. As such, he knew it was going to be death sentence this time and declined further treatment. He did not fear death but he also wasn't going to just surrender to it, because that went against his nature. Burnsie kept on fighting right to the end.

Pat even lived to read his own obituaries. On Sept 16, with his condition deteriorating, it was erroneously reported in the Canadian media that Pat had died at his home in Magog, Quebec. The eulogies and tributes poured in, both in English and French. A few hours later, Burns himself told the media that rumors of his demise were greatly exaggerated.

That was Pat. He battled onward for two more months before the cancer finally took his life on earth. What lives on forever is Burns' fighting spirit, the legacy of his smarts as a hockey coach and the influence he passed on for how to get the most out of players. Burns was the epitome of tough-but-fair, and the man flat out knew how to coach. He was a winner.

Once again, my congratulations go out to the Burns family. Pat's place in the annals of our game was already secure without the "blessing" of enshrinement in the Hall of Fame. Even so, I am glad that his name has rightfully been added to those who have been instrumental in shaping the sport. The family deserves to bask in that recognition.

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Paul Stewart holds the distinction of being the first U.S.-born citizen to make it to the NHL as both a player and referee. On March 15, 2003, he became the first American-born referee to officiate in 1,000 NHL games.

Today, Stewart is an officiating and league discipline consultant for the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) and serves as director of hockey officiating for the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC).

The longtime referee heads Officiating by Stewart, a consulting, training and evaluation service for officials. Stewart also maintains a busy schedule as a public speaker, fund raiser and master-of-ceremonies for a host of private, corporate and public events. As a non-hockey venture, he is the owner of Lest We Forget.

In addition to his blogs for HockeyBuzz every Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, Stewart writes a column every Wednesday for the Huffington Post.